<--PREV Doc #126  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #128 Document #127; April 3, 1953 To Edgar Newton Eisenhower Series: EM, AWF, Name Series ; Category: Personal and confidential The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIV - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part I: Charting a New Course; January 1953 to April 1953 Chapter 2: "A number of misunderstandings": Party and International Struggles   Dear Ed: I didn't know that the American Bar Association was going to keep pounding at you about the possibility of my going to their convention in August.1 Some months ago we started to work out a tentative plan for a summer vacation for Mamie and me, and from every standpoint it appeared that August would be the best month.2 Since we arrived at that conclusion, I have been setting my jaw to resist every invitation for that particular month. This morning, in addition to your letter; comes a most persuasive one from some friends in New York who are earnestly hoping that I can participate in a ceremony honoring my old friend Bernard Baruch.3 I believe the date is August twentieth, or something of that order. It is really discouraging; either a man gives himself up completely to the grinding round of engagements and meetings which are the result of tearful calls made upon him for his presence at some notable occasion--or he has to become so austere, remote and arbitrary that he tells them all "No." At this moment, of course, I can do little more than make a guess as to the proposals for August. Congress could conceivably still be in session and there would simply not be a vacation period in the cards for me. In this case, I should be close by and I might find it advisable to accept one or both of the invitations to which I refer. On the other hand, I do not want to give up the idea of a vacation. Over and beyond this, I went to the Bar Association in 1949 after a protracted argument.4 In fact, I had once refused to go and then reconsidered upon your personal appeal. All of this would be easier for me if I liked to make addresses. Actually, I have so little faith in the efficacy of words and get so tired of the stream of them that is constantly being poured out upon us all, that I have an instinctive revulsion against the whole business of speech making. The tone of this letter probably implies to you exactly what is the truth. It is for the past couple of days I have been completely fed up and it is high time I was getting away from here for three or four days.5 Sometimes I think only a miracle will make it possible. My best to the family, as always, As ever 1 In a letter of March 31, Edgar had urged Eisenhower to attend the American Bar Association's annual meeting in Boston (AWF/N). 2 The Eisenhowers would vacation in Denver, Colorado, during August and September. For developments see nos. 383 and 386. 3 The President would interrupt his vacation to fly to New York on August 19 to honor Baruch's eighty-third birthday. The ceremony would mark the dedication of the Baruch Houses, a $32 million public housing project named for Dr. Simon Baruch, the elder statesman's father. 4 See Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, nos. 454 and 638. 5 See no. 118. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal and confidential To Edgar Newton Eisenhower, 3 April 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 127. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/127.cfm <--PREV Doc #126  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #128

Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission 1629 K Street, NW Suite 801 Washington DC 20006 Phone: 202.296.0004    Fax: 202.296.6464